The shelving in your walk-in cooler is literally being held up by zip-ties and milk crates (you know who you are) and now it’s finally time for an upgrade. But while it may be tempting to have your kitchen staff give it a go and tackle the installation – you may regret it and find yourself forking over more money than you bargained for.

Out With the Old

If you made the right choice in shelving and finally upgraded to a rust-free, non-corrosion system, congratulations (wink-wink)! You’ll never have to go through this ordeal again! The experience of trading out old for new shelving can be overwhelming if not managed properly. You will need to schedule the switch-out on a day that you have the least amount of inventory stored to facilitate the transition. Whatever food remains stored must be assigned a temporary staging area, including refrigerated space if upgrading shelving in a walk-in cooler. If you haven’t guessed by now, the work may have to be done after hours once the restaurant is closed to avoid interruption of service.

Maintaining proper temperatures during the process is critical in order to avoid food spoilage or bacteria growth. “The process of switching out shelving from start to finish (removing stored products, dismantling old shelving, clean-up, building of new shelving, placement of stored products back to their place) can range anywhere from 6-8 hours from start to finish depending on the complexity of the set-up, number of units and/or size of room”, shared Kevin Stegall a 10-year shelving installation expert. “In some cases, such as restaurants with space limitations, leasing a truck equipped with refrigeration may be necessary”, he added.

Do Your Best. Hire the Rest.

Coordinating everything in order to ensure a smooth installation is critical and hiring an unexperienced installer can bring on its own set of challenges. You may try and save some costs by having your kitchen staff manage the installation, but here’s a few reasons why this may not be the best option. 1) Your line cooks are used to handling many tasks but pulling them away from their day-to-day routine and having them stay late to assemble shelving after their shift is done may run you the risk of a hurried job. This could lead to a poor installation, leaving out important components or skipping important installation steps. 2) The other problem is your staff may not have the proper tools or extra parts to make necessary adjustments on the spot. Your kitchen staff can be of great help once the new shelving is in place by organizing and putting the items in their rightful location.

Shelving installed correctly makes such a huge difference in the success of running a smooth kitchen. Poorly installed shelving leads to future mishaps, slows down production, impedes organization and may cause injury to an employee. You also do not want to hire someone that is not qualified and then have to deal with loss of food product or paid time off due to an injury.

When selecting a shelving installer, consider these 7 factors:

You Are Not Alone. Cambro is Here.

Upgrading shelving equipment in your kitchen can be overwhelming, but it does not have to be when you employ the right steps from start to finish. From measuring your storage space, to providing shelving layout drawings, delivery of the product and turn-key installation, we are there at every stage of the process. That is the value that Cambro brings. We have 900+ shelving installers nationwide that have been certified and trained on all three Camshelving lines.

Selecting the right shelving for the application and hiring the right team to install it will set your operation up for long-term success, organization and efficiency.

Looking for a shelving expert in your area, contact your local sales representative.